My friends horse is eating his poo, i have told her that it is probably a lack of mineral in his diet but she wont listen too me she thinks its funny i am quite worried as he has also dropped a lot of weight!

nate1

12-17-2010 01:36 PM

how much is your friend feeding the horse?

StormvaleQHStud

12-18-2010 10:27 AM

I agree.... How much is he getting fed? Some horses do do it as a habit but most of them do it when they are severely lacking in minerals. Try getting her to put him on Topstock mineral lick supplement. A horse I recently rescued was doing that for at least the first 2 months I had him untill his mineral levels went up to a decent amount. He is still hoeing through it everyday though so it will be awhile before his minerals are at the required level. Lots of things can happen from a lack of mineral. Bark chewing, ringworm (which is actually a lacking of Copper) and stuff as little and as easy as reading up on what minerals lacking causing what can do amazing things. I have a book that is one of the first I will grab to look for minerals needed whenever I rescue a new horse and it is Natural Horsecare by Pat Colby. Got rid of my friends horses ringworm as soon as he had copper levels up and it tells you the right amount etc....... I put copper blocks in my horses water especially during summer where they tend to lose it more than winter (they also wont intake as much in winter as they dont drink as much as in summer) but all of my horses are able to help them selves to Topstock minerals put in buckets in their paddock and will only eat it if they need it and will leave the minerals they dont aka if they dont need salt my horse syphen it out and leave it in the buckets.... Get given it all year round.....

Peggysue

12-18-2010 10:59 AM

tell her to add a prebio to his diet... he is looking for gut bacteria so if she add a GOOD vitamin/mineral supplement with pre and pro bios added he will stop

Gizmo

12-18-2010 09:57 PM

If he has started loosing weight too, it might be because he is hungry. I am giving my horse minerals and everything but had to take him off of grain because of founder so he has been losing weight and getting hungry so he has started to eat his manure a little bit. Not all of it though.